Where does a process such as ‘Stop Motion Animation’ fit in the New Zealand Curriculum?
Mathematics
Measurement:
‘Comparing times,
lengths and distances’
Deciding how long each frame will show in the sequence the most important part of an animation. This is mostly a trial and error situation. We found that if the frames went too quickly the movement of the characters was blurred and the storyline was lost. In Microsoft Moviemaker, which we used for all of our sequences, both the transitions and the frames needed their times set. Although the students initially thought that the faster the time the better the animation would appear, it turned out that this was not the case.
Working out how many frames were needed for each sequence of animations came next. After the students had calculated how many frames would fill each second, at the speed they thought was best for the story, they could calculate roughly how long the whole story would
take to complete and then how many frames were needed to do this. In all cases the number of frames for even a small animation was staggering.
Finding out the effect of changing the speed of the frames per second was another calculation. Students experimented with the number of changes needed to show movement. Showing a character running, as an example, needed fewer changes than a walking character, but the time of each frame could be longer.
(First we all went into the Activity Room and acted like our plasticine men. After we did that we came back to class. We picked two colours from the plasticine. When we saw the colours we all picked different ones. We got one roll of plasticine but because we didn’t have enough we got one more because that wasn’t enough either. We got one more. Then we made a little man so big and balanced. Every second that we film we need 4 photos so each photo will last 0.25 of a second. If we have more photos the movement is smoother.) Emily
English
Viewing and Presenting
‘Selecting images and words for a purpose.’ Animation is especially helpful here because rather than searching for a suitable image for an idea, the students are creating their own to suit exactly.
‘Using verbal and visual features to communicate information, ideas or narrative through layout, drama, video or still photography.’ Animation can tell stories that the students have written themselves or to retell those they have read. It is especially good for sequencing and planning because the students are easily engaged when planning for a ‘real’ event. It is also invaluable for demonstrating a sequence of some natural event, eg: a volcanic eruption or the life-cycle of a butterfly. This can then be used to assess the students’ understanding of the process.
Arts
Visual
Modelling figures, designing sets and painting characters, and backgrounds, for use in animations are all part of exploring art-making conventions. The knowledge of properties held by the elements used in modelling is especially important when the characters need to be capable of movements.
(We went into the activity Room and pretended to be plasticine people and we used three rolls of plasticine. Then we made a little man and balanced him so he could move around. We have to make him big to move him around.) Joe
Music
Creating sounds and sound effects, in various ways, to accompany animations can be an extension of a music programme and adds to the overall effect of the animation they are created for.
Drama
When my class had made their plasticine characters ready to begin their animations, we spent quite some time observing each other going through the movements that were required to sit, walk, stand and twist. The students found that pretending to be the plasticine man gave much more of an insight into the exact stages of movement than just talking about it would have done. For more complicated sequences that require more interaction between the characters, watching others acting out the scenes that were to be filmed had the same effect. There were always little things that were not noticed in real life but were easily observed during the role play.
(The first thing we did is we went to the Activity Room. We were pretending to be Plasticine men and were trying to sit and stand). Taylor-Anne
Science
Representations of the changes that occur in nature or in science experiments can be made using Stop Motion Animation. It is ideal for this because the students often question their understanding of the process they are trying to represent as they complete it, and there is ample opportunity for discussion which is often where the real learning occurs. Experiments such as plant growing, volcanic activity, cloud formation, the water cycle, human movement….the list is endless. The end results are also very useful to assess the students’ grasp of the topics when they are complete.
Technology
The use of computers, cameras and editing software is obviously all part of the technology used to make an animation. However, there is also the planning and designing of sets and stages that comes under the technology umbrella.
Animation and the New Zealand Curriculum
Where does a process such as ‘Stop Motion Animation’ fit in the New Zealand Curriculum?
Mathematics
Measurement:
‘Comparing times,
lengths and distances’
Deciding how long each frame will show in the sequence the most important part of an animation. This is mostly a trial and error situation. We found that if the frames went too quickly the movement of the characters was blurred and the storyline was lost. In Microsoft Moviemaker, which we used for all of our sequences, both the transitions and the frames needed their times set. Although the students initially thought that the faster the time the better the animation would appear, it turned out that this was not the case.
Working out how many frames were needed for each sequence of animations came next. After the students had calculated how many frames would fill each second, at the speed they thought was best for the story, they could calculate roughly how long the whole story would
take to complete and then how many frames were needed to do this. In all cases the number of frames for even a small animation was staggering.
Finding out the effect of changing the speed of the frames per second was another calculation. Students experimented with the number of changes needed to show movement. Showing a character running, as an example, needed fewer changes than a walking character, but the time of each frame could be longer.
(First we all went into the Activity Room and acted like our plasticine men. After we did that we came back to class. We picked two colours from the plasticine. When we saw the colours we all picked different ones. We got one roll of plasticine but because we didn’t have enough we got one more because that wasn’t enough either. We got one more. Then we made a little man so big and balanced.
Every second that we film we need 4 photos so each photo will last 0.25 of a second. If we have more photos the movement is smoother.) Emily
English
‘Selecting images and words for a purpose.’ Animation is especially helpful here because rather than searching for a suitable image for an idea, the students are creating their own to suit exactly.
‘Using verbal and visual features to communicate information, ideas or narrative through layout, drama, video or still photography.’ Animation can tell stories that the students have written themselves or to retell those they have read. It is especially good for sequencing and planning because the students are easily engaged when planning for a ‘real’ event. It is also invaluable for demonstrating a sequence of some natural event, eg: a volcanic eruption or the life-cycle of a butterfly. This can then be used to assess the students’ understanding of the process.
(We went into the activity Room and pretended to be plasticine people and we used three rolls of plasticine. Then we made a little man and balanced him so he could move around. We have to make him big to move him around.) Joe
(The first thing we did is we went to the Activity Room. We were pretending to be Plasticine men and were trying to sit and stand).
Taylor-Anne